pat loughery

Worship Set:
He Will Come to Us (Prosch)

Gordon Fee, Philippians 3

We have noted the combination of a letter of friendship and a letter of moral exhortation. the letter of moral exhortation’s primary feature is the use of exemplary paradigms to press the point of excellence.

The format of phil is to tell three stories as examples to his friends in phil.

the story of how to live in the context of external conflict. in everything, preferring the other.

after the

the next paraddigm is living christ in the context of opposition.

Bad translation: “finally”. “Finally” is “what’s left to be said”, not necessarily “in conclusoin”. framing devidce for Phil 3:1-4:3, then to Phil 4:4. TNIV: “further”.

“Rejoice in teh Lrod” doesn’t mean “feel joyful, be joyful”. It’s an imperative verb: ACT THIS WAY. comes from the psalter. Nonetheless, I will rejoice in God my savior. Emphasis is more on “in the lord” than “joy”.

Remember that friends have enemies incommon. In a sense this is what Paul is dealing with. In this case it’s others in the christian community who have followed paulo’s tracdks and judaizers.

what paul does here is not translatable. assonance (similar sounding sounds).his is a ‘k’ not an ‘s’. “watch out for…”. Dogs==scavengers. next: the mulilators of the flesh. in the OT those who had been mutilated in the flesh were not allowed toserve in the priesthood. beware the “cutters of the flesh who cannot themselves serve int eh temple” for we are the “true circumcision”, nothing to do with human flesh.

We are the circumcision == OT history from deut 30:6.(circumsision of heart) This is picked up by Jere 31:33, (law on minds and hearts)

then ezekiel (knowng god, circ of heart refers ultimately to spirit of god) spirit is key to the circumcised heart that follows god gladly

paul romans 2:28-29: Jew/circ not merely outward; but be one inwardly, andcirc of the heart by the spirit, not th written code. Paul going back to deut, jere, ezek.

“we are the circumcision”, and then verse 3: “we serve” -> direct translation is “we are those who servge in the true temple”. so, we serve god by his spirit.

then language from jeremiah: know the lord -> know me -> boasting. Paul’s use of boast in 1-2 cor (51 of 55 occurences, most in ch. 1-3). Boast always refers to jeremiah 9:23-24 boast doesnt’ mean brag, but putting all one’s confidence in something.

knowing yhwh means “I am yhwh who exercise kindness, justice, righteousness on the earth; for in these i delight”.

in phil 3:4, paul says we serve god by his spirit and boast in christ jesus nad put no confidence in the fleshly circumsision (torah observanc)

then tells his story. skip to the end for now. phil 3:15-17
15All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
17Join with others in follo

wing my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.
Phil. 3:15 through Phil. 3:17 (NIV)

Paul tells his story as an exemplary paradigm.

there are three main, clear sections:
phil 3:4-6
phil 3:7-11
phil 3:12-14 (there’s a heading here destructive to the story).

1st part: looking back. the future does not lie in the past. the concerns that phil has are with the future. (theres so much in the already that they’ve lost the hoep of the not yet). they’ve lsot that confidence. judaizers have been saying that we can be acceptable to the romans if we’re jewish-christians; paul says NO! bTDT, it isn’t right

2nd part: the future lies in the present. another marvelous moment, going back to 1:21 to live is christ. paul picks up commercial language of “gain”, now considered as lost. notice, we’re talking about credit/debit side of ledger. you’re religious when you keep lists of the good things and bad things. instead I count them as street filth (dog manure, back to the earlier “dogs”. in v4 paul says he boasts in cj, and v8 the surpassing worth of knowing cj my lord. not head-knowledge, but knowledge in teh jewish way.- of intimate personal relationship. (my wife and i have been together for 586 months. we have a month-anniversary because we’re often travelling in june. we know one anotehr: i’m still learning, she knows.)

listen to isaiah: they have lack of knowledge; they don’t know me! they think i’m one of the baals and owrship me as such, they don’t know me.

it’s easy to be in the church and know ABOUT christ jesus. at issue is whether you KNOW him.

paul says “that i may know him”, then adds explanation to that. so verse 10-11
10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Phil. 3:10 through Phil. 3:11 (NIV)

takes us back to the story in ch 2 (surprise surprise) to know him: BOTH the power of resurr AND the sharing of sufferings (BOTHAND), being conformed into his likeness in his story, humbled to the point of death ofon a cross. this is waht it means to know christ!!!!!d “being cross-shaped in the way we live” cruciform lifestyle.

3rd part; the future lies in the future. v.12-14
all of this only makes sense because of the future. i haven’t reached hte goal yet, but for the one thing. so much confusion about the one thing.
“there comes a time at which common sense must take over exegesis.” it’s clear what the one thing is: CHRIST.

there is no prize at the end. the prize is knwoing christ! if you are looking for something else, you’re looking for a second thing!

h uses the lang of race because the isthmian games are run right outside – the idiom is similar

eugene peterson was in college a track runner, a miler. race was in vancouver bc. eugene peterson ran in the race in which bannister and bandy had broken the 4min mile but had not run against each other. traded the world record but never run against each other. in 1954 they ran what was touted as the miracle mile. fee watched that race on tv. bandy was leading but for a moment looked behind him on the left to see wher ehe was; bannister passed him on the right. never look back to what is in v4-6 (achievements, convincing god of your goodness). the one thing ahead is to gain christ., to know him.

if knowing christ in that way doesn’t do something to your heart, you need to find a quiet place and let it flow over you.

when you’re tired, you look down at each step. paul didn’t do that – he fixed his eyss on the prize: know ing christ even as we are known.

(standing ovation). When was the last time you gave a standing-o at a devotional leading?